A Practitioner's Overview of the Deficiencies of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act Twenty Years Following its Enactment

An overview from a litigator’s perspective of the main deficiencies in the WARN Act, including hurdles not contemplated by Congress that have made WARN Act litigation difficult and often nearly impossible in ways not envisioned by Congress twenty years ago. Some of these deficiencies have been addressed by the current proposed legislation, namely S. 1792 and H.R. 3920 (which the House approved in October 2007), others have not, but should be considered as critical to making WARN a viable tool for achieving Congress’ purpose of providing advance notice to terminated employees.